The 170-year-old company, which came close to collapse last year, said the wettest April on record and an advertising campaign featuring a rock cover of Louis Armstrong’s Wonderful World led to an improvement in recent bookings.

UK summer bookings fell by 1% on the previous year, slightly up on the 2% decline reported in March. A reduction in capacity meant it had 19% fewer holidays to sell than a year ago.

Group underlying losses for the six months to March 31 widened by 58% to £262.7m, reflecting difficult trading in most of its markets – particularly the impact of the Arab Spring on the Middle East and North Africa.